Collapsible coop.



J. B. DAVIS & H. W. SMITH.

GOLLAPSIBLE COOP.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 27, 1910.

Patented Feb. 13, 1912.

2 SHEETSSHEET 1.

11W M l W UH H h m HIW HIIHI IM IHJ H E l 'lp ill WITNESSES.-

ff/w A TTORNE Y.

J. B. DAVIS & H. W. SMITH.

OOLLAPSIBLE COOP.

APPLICATION TILED DEC. 27, 1910.

Patented Feb. 13, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WITNESSES ATTORNEY.

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH 60.. WASHINGTON. D. c.

JOHN BROOKE DAVIS AND HARRY W. SlVII'lI-I, OF'AIBINGDON, ILLINOIS.

COL-LAPSIBLE COOP.

Application filed December To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, JOHN B. DAVIS and HARRY W. SMITH, both citizens of the United States, and residents of Abingdon, in the county of Knox and State of Illinois, have jointly invented a new and useful Collapsible Coop, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to metallic coops which may be collapsed or folded for crating, for storage, etc. Coops of this character as heretofore made provided insuflicient ventilation, the provision made being, generally, holes punched in the sides whereby rain and chilling drafts would enter endangering the lives of the delicate chicks or other fiedglings.

To provide novel means for providing ample ventilation, but without any objectionable features, constitutes a special object of the invention.

To so construct one element of the coop that it not only becomes a perfect rain shed, but also provides a pan-like receptacle for all the other parts when the coop is collapsed for storage or packing, constitutes another object.

To provide spring-locking means, whereby the upstanding parts may be instantly and automatically engaged and held in operative positions, forms another object.

To provide novel means for hinging the upstanding parts to the top or roof, is also an object.

It is an object to generally construct the coop in a simple, strong, practical and sanitary manner.

To construct a coop without bolts or nuts, which quickly rust and become difficult, and in fact, impossible to separate, is an object.

Minor objects will be in part obvious and in part pointed out.

The invention therefore relates to metallic coops in general, and consists not only in the specific form shown and described, (as we are aware that various changes may be made therefrom) but in modifications thereof which are adapted to effect a similar result.

As the invention is more fully disclosed, it will be evident that we have made the usual provisions against absorption of moisture, against rust, against vermin and insects, and for partial or complete closure as well as full opening of the doors, and for the usual wire-mesh and solid metal sliding doors.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 13, 1912.

27, 1910. Serial No. 599,399.

illustrate the best exemplification of our invention now known to us: Figure 1 is a top plan, all the central or inner portion of the top being broken away; Fig. 2, a front end tional View, seen from the rear and turned upside down, as the coop appears after being folded; and Fig. 4, an enlarged detail, a vertical section, partly in elevation, taken at the left hand forward corner; and Fig. 5, an enlarged detail, a vertical section, partly in elevation, taken at the left hand, upper, forward corner.

Referring to the parts by numerals, the same one indicating the same part in all of the figures, 2 indicates the top or roof, formed of a rectangular piece of sheet metal having pendent sides 2 and ends 3 formed by bending and crimping the corners at 4. These pendent portions form effective rain sheds and each is provided with two apertures for the reception of longitudinally disposed pintles or rods 5, and of transversely disposed similar rods 6, the ends of said rods being bent at 5 and 6 respectively to prevent displacement. The upper edge of each side-wall 7 is curled to form an elongated eye 9 in which one of the rods 5 is seated and to which it may (and is preferably) secured by soldering, or in any other suitable manner. The lower edge of each side 7 is bent inwardly and upwardly at 10 to form a floor (or bottom) receiving groove. At its ends, each wall 7 is similarly bent at 1213 to form grooves for a purpose presently related. One end of a bent fiat spring 14 is riveted at 15 to each end of each wall 7, its angle normally standing or spaced away from said wall, and its bent portion projected through a slot 16 out near the front edge of each of said walls. Preferably the projecting end of the spring is reflexed to form a lock 17.

The upper edge of the rear end wall 20 is formed with an eye 19 which receives the rear rod 6, and its lower edge is turned inwardly to form a shelf 32 on which the rear end of the bottom (presently described) may rest. The ends of the wall 20 are bent outwardly and engage the groove formed by the bends 12 in the side walls 7.

The upper edge of the front wall 21 (which is somewhat higher than the wall 20 in order to provide a sloping roof,) is formed with an eye 22 which receives the In the accompanying drawings, which elevation; Fig. 3, a transverse, central, sec

forward rod 6, and its ends are angularly bent to rest in and be restrained by the grooves or channels formed by the bends 13 in the side walls. A strip 23, the upper edge of which is bent downwardly at 24:, is fixed to said front wall, transversely thereof and just above the usual opening, indicated at Fig. 2 by ac-m. The bot-tom edge of the wall or front 21 is turned upwardly to provide a groove or way 25 for a wire-mesh door 26 and a sheet metal door 27, the upper edges of which are restrained from outward movement by (but permitted to slide within) the bent portion 24L of the strip 23. By means of a hook 29 hinged on the door 27, and adapted for engagement with a selective wire of the door 26, said doors may be spaced apart at such distance as to permit chicks to run in and out the coop, or the hook may be so engaged with one of said wires that the doors will be so held that the chicks are constantly confined and against not only the elements, but rats, weasels, minks, etc., also.

The floor or bottom 33 has downwardly turned side edges 31 which engage the grooves formed by the bent lower edges 10 of the side walls. Its rear portion 34: is turned upwardly and abuts against the rear end wall of the coop, resting on the shelf 32. The forward end of the floor is similarly turned to form a stop, which serves also as a convenient member by which it may be grasped for placement or removal.

As shown best at Fig. 2, the rods 5 and 6 are placed some little distance below the upper portion of the pendent sides and ends of the roof. It will be noted also that the roof is somewhat greater in both width and length than is the area formed by the side and end walls. A comparatively large opening is thus provided, extending continuously around the coop, which opening while permitting of perfect circulation of air, is effectively closed from rain or chilling drafts by the pendent portions of the roof.

The operation: Assume the several parts to be in the relative position shown at Fig. 3. After first lifting off the floor or bottom 33, the operator will swing the side-walls to a substantially vertical position, and there hold them-his knee may be employed for this purpose. He will then swing the rear wall 20 upwardly, whereupon, when its edges strike the'springs 14 they will force the projected portions 14 outwardly through the slats 16 and permit them to enter the grooves formed by the bends 12 in the side walls. As soon as the wall 20 has passed beyond said springs they will spring back and the angularly bent portion 14 will lock them against displacement. The front is raised in like manner, and is in like manner locked by the forward pair of springs. The engagement of its edges with the forward edge of each side member, as also the function of the springs 14, is best shown at Fig. 5. The top or roof may be slid along in the grooves along the lower portions of the side walls, and in an evident manner.

It will be evident that the parts may be assembled in another order from that described. The manner of folding or collapsing the coop, by simply pressing the springs outwardly and inclining the ends inwardly, and then permitting the sides to fall inwardly, needs no detailed description. Nor does the fact that the parts may be collapsed in another order than that shown at Fig. 3, but it may be stated that the top or roof becomes a receptacle for the other parts.

Having thus described our invention, we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent the following, to-wit:

1. A collapsible coop comprising a top having pendent sides and ends, each of said sides entirely free from contact with said top and provided with apertures, and each of said ends provided with apertures, longitudinally arranged rods disposed in coin-- ciding pairs of said apertures in said pendent ends, a side wall hinged on each of said rods, transversely arranged rods disposed in coinciding pairs of apertures in said pendent sides, an end wall hinged on each of said transversely arranged rods, and means for locking said side and end-walls from disengagement.

2. A collapsible coop comprising an invertible pan-like top, side walls hinged to the ends of said top and adapted to be collapsed thereinto, end walls hinged to the sides of said top and adapted to be collapsed thereinto, but entirely free from contact with said walls when in position for use and a bottom adapted for sliding engagement with a portion of said walls and adapted to be loosely contained within said top when the coop is in operative position.

3. A collapsible coop comprising a top having pendent sides and pendent ends, each side and end provided with coinciding apertures, longitudinally arranged rods disposed in coinciding pairs of apertures in said pendent ends, a side wall hinged on each of said rods, each of its ends refieXed to provide a channel, transversely arranged rods disposed in coinciding pairs of apertures in said pendent sides and crossing said longitudinally arranged rods, an end wall hinged on each of said transverse rods and each of its ends flanged substantially rectangularly to its body and adapted for engagement with the channels aforesaid, doors slidably engaged with one of said ends, and means for locking the sides and ends from disengagement when the coop is assembled.

4. A collapsible coop comprising a top having pendent sides and ends, each thereof provided with coinciding pairs of apertures, longitudinally arranged rods disposed in coinciding pairs of apertures in said pendent ends, a side wall hinged on each of said rods, whereby the side Walls are hinged to the pendentends of the top, transversely arranged rods disposed in coinciding pairs of apertures in said pendent sides of the top, the last recited rods crossing those first recited, end walls hinged on each of said transversely arranged rods, whereby the end walls are hinged to the pendent sides of the top, and means for locking said side and end walls together when in operative positions.

5. A collapsible coop comprising a top having pendent sides and pendent ends, each of said sides and ends provided with pairs of coinciding apertures, longitudinally disposed rods arranged in coinciding pairs thereof in the said ends, a side Wall hinged on each of said rods, whereby the side walls are hinged to the pendent ends of the top, each end of said side walls refiexed to provide a channel, transversely arranged rods disposed in coinciding pairs of apertures in said pendent sides, the last recited rods crossing those first recited, an end wall hinged on said transversely arranged rods, whereby the end Walls are hinged to the pendent sides of the top, means for locking said side and end walls together when in operative position each end of each end wall flanged substantially rectangularly to its body and adapted for engagement with the channels aforesaid, each side wall provided with a channel at the lower portion thereof, and a bottom having downturned edges adapted to slide loosely in said channels, and, said walls spaced a distance from said top.

6. A collapsible coop comprising a top having pendent sides and pendent ends, side walls hinged to said pendent ends and a distance inwardly from the extremities thereof, and end walls hinged to said pendent sides and a distance inwardly from the extremities thereof, and a top in engagement with said walls, and all of said walls spaced a distance from said top whereby a continuous air space is provided between said walls and top.

In testimony that We claim the foregoing as our joint invention we hereunto aflix our hands at Abingdon, in the county and State aforesaid, this 12th day of December, 1910.

JOHN BROOKE DAVIS. HARRY IV. SMITH.

In presence of REED Y. CAMPBELL, HARRY L. HAYNES.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

